Indonesia Bumi Resources 2010 net profit rises 63 pct

JAKARTA, March 31 (Reuters) - Indonesia's Bumi Resources , Asia's biggest thermal coal exporter, on

Thursday said its 2010 net profit beat

expectations to rise 63 percent as revenue rose on higher coal demand.

Bumi, which sees coal prices and demand going up in the medium term after Japan's recent earthquake and tsunami, posted 2010 net profit of $311.18 million .

That compared with a net profit of $190.45 million in the year-ago period, and analysts' forecasts for 2010 of $269.8 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S consensus estimates.

The firm's fourth quarter net profit was $115.58 million, compared with a loss of $169.77 million in the same period a year earlier, Reuters calculations based on published full-year and nine month results showed.

Bumi, with a market capitalisation of $7.8 billion, is controlled by the politically-connected Bakrie Group, which joined forces with the Rothschild banking dynasty in November for Vallar to get a 25 percent stake in Bumi. The Bakrie Group will own 43 percent in the combined London-listed company, which will be renamed Bumi Plc.

The Bakrie family's holding investment firm Bakrie & Bros told Reuters this week that Vallar/Bumi Plc plans to increase its stake in Bumi Resources up to 51 percent before June.

Bumi shares were flat at 3,350 rupiah after the results. ($1 = 8722.5 Rupiah)

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